Depending on your upbringing or perhaps the social norms in your community, you were either spanked or weren’t. If you were spanked, and now have children of your own, you either feel very strongly against it and have found ways to discipline your kids without laying a finger (or slipper, or belt, or wooden spoon) on them; or, you have followed in your parents’ footsteps and also spank as a form of discipline. Kelly Clarkson belongs to the latter group.

“I’m not above a spanking, which people aren’t necessarily into,” the singer told a Rochester-based radio station. “And I don’t mean, like, hitting her hard, I just mean a spanking. My parents spanked me and I did fine in life and I feel fine about it.”

Clarkson, who has two children (daughter River, 3, and one-year-old son Remington), does understand that many, if not most, people disagree with her methods. “So that’s a tricky thing when you’re out in public, ’cause then people think that’s wrong or something, but I find nothing wrong with a spanking.”

She explained that she warns River beforehand. “I’m like, ‘Hi, I’m gonna spank you on your bottom if you don’t stop right now. Like, this is ridiculous.'”

The singer chalked it up to growing up in the South, where everyone got spanked. She defended her upbringing by saying, “I’m a well-rounded individual with a lot of character, so I think it’s fine.”

It’s not like Kelly is doling this out as parenting advice; she’s simply stating how she handles situations with her daughter (presumably she’s not spanking her baby son). If that works for her, then it works for her and no judgment. That being said, there are more effective ways to deal with kids. Using physical punishment — or even the threat of physical punishment — is more about instilling fear than respect, obedience and better behaviour. It’s only a short-term fix, while the effects of spanking can do some real long-term damage. And that’s not an opinion, that’s based on decades of study.

Nowhere else — with the exception of contact sports or wrestling — is it OK for one human to hit another. And whether spanking is the first line of discipline, or the last resort born from constant frustration, that can’t be denied. We love Kelly though, and appreciate her openness, and we have no doubt whatsoever that she’s a kick-ass parent.